My husband really loves pie. I mean, really, really loves pie. Before we met, he used to go hiking and, in his hiking backpack, he would carry half of a store-bought pie. Seriously. That was his “hiking snack.”
Fortunately for him, I really love to make pies. In fact, the first words he spoke to me on the day we met were, “I heard you made the pies.” You see, I met my husband at a party thrown by his twin brother and sister-in-law (who was my coworker at the time). It was a fall celebration potluck (12 years ago this month!), and I brought pies – a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. Apparently, he liked the pies I made enough to come up to me and introduce himself. (When we got married 6.5 years go, we skipped the wedding cake and had wedding pie instead.)
Unfortunately for him, I can now no longer eat gluten and this has put a little bit of a damper on my motivation to make pies. But I’m trying to overcome!
Recently, I’ve started experimenting with crustless pies because I don’t really enjoy the gluten-free crusts that I’ve tried. But, I know pie just isn’t as good for the gluten-lovers when it’s missing the crust. Plus, I like playing with pie crust and trying to make my pies look fancy.
So, I decided to create a crustless pumpkin pie, but then added a little something extra for those gluten eaters (everyone in my house other than me…).
I started by making a standard pumpkin pie. I followed the same recipe I’ve almost always used for pumpkin pie – the one on the label of the can of Libby’s Pumpkin puree. I used all of the exact same ingredients (minus the crust, of course), but followed the baking instructions here.
Then, for the gluten eaters, I created pie crust cookies!
I rolled out the pie crust (for the purposes of this pie, I used store bought Pillsbury Pie Crust dough, but you could use any pie crust recipe you like), and used a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out pumpkin shapes.
I put each cut out cookie on a cookie sheet that I sprayed with non-stick spray. Then, brushed melted butter and sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on each cookie.
I baked them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. After they cooled, they were ready to serve!
I put a pie crust cookie on the plate, placed a slice of the crustless pumpkin pie on top of the cookie, and then added some whipped cream. Et voila! A gluten-free pie that I can enjoy, with a yummy option for the gluten lovers as well.
I’d love to hear about your favorite ways to serve pie – either with or without gluten! Leave me a comment below!